On May 27th and 28th, seventy of the top female competitors will compete for a chance to capture the 16th Connecticut Women's Open Championship. The tournament, which will be played at Wampanoag Country Club in West Hartford, Connecticut, is open to any amateur or professional female golfer regardless of residency. The event has a rich history of producing champions, and has a $5,000 guaranteed prize for the low professional.
There are a total of 70 players in the field competing for the Connecticut Women's Open title, of which 37 are professionals and 33 are amateurs.
2013 Champion: Megan Khang of Rockland, Mass., will not be returning to defend her title at Wampanoag CC. Khang, the 2012 and 2013 Women's Open Champion and currently the top ranked junior golfer in the country, will be attempting to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open at Thorny Lea Golf Club in Brockton, Mass., a tournament she previously qualified for in 2012.
Past Champions: There are a total of 4 past champions in the field:
Jordan Lintz – 2011 Champion
Cindy J Reeves – 2009 Champion
Lynn Valentine – 2008 Champion
Liz (Janangelo) Caron – 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Champion
When Liz Caron steps on the first tee of Wampanoag Country Club on Tuesday morning, she will be on familiar ground. Aside from capturing the third of her four Women's Open titles at Wampanoag in 2005, Caron grew up at the club and was a member throughout her amateur and professional playing career. Caron graduated from Duke University and in addition to her four Women’s Open championships, she also captured five straight Connecticut Women’s Amateur Championship (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001). Her husband, Jason, won the 2012 Connecticut Open Championship at Wee Burn Country Club.
After finishing runner-up in 2013, Ashli Bunch of Morristown, Tennessee will be looking to win her first Connecticut Women's Open title. Bunch, a veteran of the LPGA and Symetra tours with over $720,000 in career earnings, held the overnight lead heading into the final round last year before finishing second by a single stroke to Megan Khang.
Katy Jarochowicz has the longest commute of any competitor in the field. Jarochowicz resides in Flinders, New South Wales (Australia) and is in the United States this summer in pursuit of her LPGA tour card. Among her many accomplishments include winning the 2009 Texas Women's Open and finishing Runner-up at the 2010 Washington Women's Open.
About the Course: Located in West Hartford, Connecticut, Wampanoag Country Club is an 18-hole private country club that was originally founded in 1924. Shortly thereafter, the club commissioned famed architect Donald Ross to design the championship layout. Ross, best known for his simplistic designs and holes that are carved out of the existing natural landscape, designed a course that has withstood the test of time.
Past Championships: Wampanoag Country Club is no stranger to hosting the state's premier amateur and professional championships, having previously hosted six Connecticut Open Championships (1932, 1937, 1940, 1950, 1968 and 1980) and six Connecticut Amateur Championships (1930, 1939, 1963, 1973, 1982 and 2003). Most recently, it hosted the 2005 Connecticut Women's Open Championship, with Liz (Janangelo) Caron capturing her third straight title on her home course.
